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It was the first new suburban mall in Columbus in 30 years, a monument to retailing that wowed civic leaders and shoppers alike.

“It was the premier mall,” said Suzsee Spencer of Dublin.

She had to work on opening day and missed being among the thousands who crowded the mall, “but I was there a lot afterward.”

“They were head and shoulders above Northland, Eastland, Westland. You had the restaurants, you had all the great stores — Jacobson’s and Marshall Field’s — and that was when Abercrombie was taking off, too. That was huge.”

But times change, especially in the highly competitive world of retailing.

Today, 16 years after the 128-store Northwest Side mall opened, shoppers and analysts alike find good things to say about it, but its place in the retail landscape has changed.

“It’s just an ordinary, garden-variety mall that really relies on location more than anything for its appeal,” said retail analyst Chris Boring, principal of Boulevard Strategies. “I look at (Tuttle) mall, and it pales in comparison to Polaris (Fashion Place) or Easton (Town Center). It’s never had the upscale, luxury feel that Polaris had.”

New stores slated to open or that have opened recently at the three malls tell the story.

Polaris’ additions include such high-flying names as Lululemon, Fossil and Victoria’s Secret Sport, only the second store of its kind. Outside the mall, the Polaris area is now host to Ohio’s first Cabela’s, the outdoors chain that draws customers from hundreds of miles away.

Meanwhile, Easton recently opened the state’s first American Girl store and the first Midwest location of C. Wonder, the preppy women’s clothing and accessories retailer, in a large new shopping district that caters to children and families.

By comparison, at Tuttle, three stores that just opened or are set to open soon are Zumiez, the Shoe Dept. Encore and Rue 21; two of those are discount retailers.

Sales during the past year at the three malls also have differed. At Tuttle, sales were just below $400 per square foot, while those at Polaris were more than $500 per square foot, and sales at Easton exceeded $700 per square foot, industry sources say.

Sales at higher-quality malls, or those deemed Class A by the industry, start at about $400 per square foot, while a good B-class mall will land at about $350 a square foot, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. Thus, Tuttle’s numbers mean that the mall is quite healthy, even if it’s not a top performer.

“I don’t think they’re on their last legs or anything close to it,” Boring said. “I wouldn’t be alarmist. But I do think Tuttle is underperforming compared to its peers on a local level, on a national level and compared to other Simon Property Group malls. I also think it’s underachieving relative to its location because the demographics of the area are very good.

“The fact that it’s not maximizing its opportunity has let small lifestyle centers in that area do well, like the Shops on Lane Avenue, Kingsdale Shopping Center and the Shops at Worthington Place,” he said. “You don’t see that many smaller lifestyle centers near Easton.”

Tuttle’s lineup of stores does include familiar mall names. Many were in the lineup when Tuttle opened, and include Abercrombie & Fitch, Ann Taylor, Bath & Body Works, The Limited, Talbot’s and Victoria’s Secret.

But, like all malls, Tuttle has had its share of turnover.

Eddie Bauer, one of the original stores at Tuttle, left in 2003. Other originals that have departed include United Colors of Benetton, Nine West, Bailey Banks & Biddle, Crabtree & Evelyn and Johnston & Murphy. Some left early in the previous decade, while others moved out in the past two or three years.

When stores leave, Tuttle owner Simon Property Group looks for “a tenant more attractive than the one that went out,” said spokesman Les Morris. “We look at it as an opportunity to find a more-attractive tenant. We’re always looking at the merchandise mix and trying to make it as attractive as we can.”

Even so, when change happens, it can lead to feelings of unease, said Matt Wilson, who follows retail for SBC Advertising.

“Now we see eyebrow-threading shops, gold-buying shops, and massage and acupressure offerings,” Wilson said. “Is it a big change? Not really. It’s not a big change, but it’s change enough.”

Wilson said the mall isn’t helped by its mix of anchor stores: Macy’s, Sears and JCPenney.

“Tuttle isn’t in that bad shape; it’s just burdened by those three anchor tenants,” Wilson said. “If you filter the offerings of all three mega department stores, overlap in all categories is tremendous — apparel, jewelry, perfume, kitchen and bath, etc. Yes, they’re just three boxes of a decent-enough consumer experience, yet they’re using the same promotional enticements and offering similar goods and services.”

Even so, business seems good.

Simon Property Group, the world’s largest owner of retail malls and outlet centers, does not report revenue by individual malls, but other numbers offer a glimpse into the business.

Retail hiring patterns, for example, put the Mall at Tuttle Crossing among the top 10 in Franklin County, with a healthy 11.9 percent increase from 2000 to 2009, a total of 345 new jobs.

While that is good, the pace is far surpassed by the 31.8 percent increase at Easton, a total of 1,756 new jobs.

The impact of Easton Town Center and Polaris Fashion Place, two transformational retail projects that arrived only two years after Tuttle opened, can’t be denied.

Easton’s open-air lifestyle-center format, a novelty when it opened, became so successful that in 2008, Polaris added a $45 million outdoor lifestyle center.

“That’s exactly what they could do at Tuttle,” Boring said. “Polaris has changed with the times. Tuttle has not.”

Although Tuttle suffers in comparison with the younger members of Columbus shopping’s big three, it is hardly in peril of meeting the same fate as its departed sibling mall, City Center.

One huge reason is the excellent demographics of the area surrounding Tuttle mall, said economist Bill LaFayette, owner of the local consulting firm Regionomics.

“It’s very good,” he said. “You’ve got Dublin right next door, for goodness’ sake.”

Such a prime location might be Tuttle’s salvation in the next few years, as four groups of developers have announced plans to build outlet centers in central Ohio.

“The planned outlet centers are really going to impact all of the malls,” Boring said. “If one is built at the I-71 interchange at Rts. 36/37 in Delaware County, Polaris will bear the brunt of the impact, and there will be a secondary impact on others, including Tuttle.”